Pakistan probe: no evidence links militant group to Indian air base attack - officials

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Feb 8 (Reuters) - A special
investigation team set up in Pakistan to probe a deadly assault
on an Indian air base last month found no evidence implicating
the leader of the group India blamed for the attack, Pakistani
security officials said on Monday.

The officials said the team interrogated Jaish-e-Mohammad
chief Maulana Masood Azhar and his associates and found no
evidence linking him with the Jan. 2 attack on the Pathankot air
base in northern India that killed seven Indian military
personnel.

"We searched their homes, seminaries, hideouts and also
examined their call records for past three months and found
nothing dubious," a security official with links to the
investigating team said.

The raid on the air base stalled efforts to revive bilateral
talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours after Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi made an unscheduled visit to his
Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, in December.

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since becoming
separate countries in 1947, two of them over the disputed
Himalayan region of Kashmir.

India has long accused Pakistan of using Kashmir-based
militants like Jaish-e-Mohammad, or Army of Mohammad, as a proxy
to mount attacks on Indian soil.

A 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, which India also
blamed on Jaish-e-Mohammad, nearly led to a war between the
nations.

Pakistan denies giving any aid to Kashmir-based militants
these days, although it admits doing so in the past.

Indian government officials say Jaish-e-Mohammad was also
behind the Pathankot attack and say they provided evidence to
the Pakistani government to prove it.

A spokesman for India's foreign ministry declined to comment
on reports of the special investigation team's findings.

In January, Pakistani authorities detained Azhar and several
members of Jaish-e-Mohammad, sealed offices belonging to the
outfit, and shut down several religious schools run by the
group.

The security officials said on Monday that Azhar remained in
custody, but did not say whether authorities were considering
his release.

The investigating team has not ruled out the possibility
that other members of Azhar's group may have been involved, the
officials said.

It also continued to look into groups affiliated with the
United Jihad Council, an alliance of pro-Pakistan militant
groups based in the Pakistani-administered part of the divided
Kashmir region that claimed responsibility for the assault in
Pathankot.

Jaish-e-Mohammad did not claim responsibility for the
attack, but praised it in a statement released a few days
afterward.
(Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore and Douglas Busvine in
New Delhi; Writing by Krista Mahr; editing by Katharine Houreld)